Pallets of depleted lithium-ion batteries at JB Straubel’s Redwood Fabrics are able for recycling.
Supply: CNBC
Redwood Fabrics, the battery-recycling startup based by way of Tesla board member JB Straubel, lately nabbed Tesla’s vp of powertrain engineering, Colin Campbell, to function leader era officer.
Based totally in Carson Town, Nevada, Redwood used to be based by way of Straubel in 2017 whilst he used to be nonetheless serving as Tesla’s CTO. Straubel resigned from Tesla in 2019 to concentrate on Redwood.
Campbell introduced the transfer on LinkedIn on Monday, capping a 17-year tenure running for Elon Musk’s electrical automobile corporate in quite a few engineering and management roles. He thanked his former colleagues at Tesla for a “once-in-a-lifetime enjoy.”
“At Redwood, I can proceed to paintings on electrification — however this time, making sure huge EV and blank power adoption by way of fixing issues additional upstream!” Campbell wrote. “Redwood’s project is to create a round battery provide chain, localizing the present fragmented machine by way of growing important battery parts at scale in the United States for the primary time — and from an ever-increasing quantity of recycled content material.”
Redwood turns end-of-life electrical automobile batteries and scrap from automobile factories into uncooked fabrics and parts to make new battery cells. Straubel informed CNBC in February that the corporate additionally blends “sustainably mined subject material” in its production processes.
Campbell’s departure from Tesla follows a press release previous this month that the corporate’s finance leader, Zach Kirkhorn, used to be stepping down, to get replaced by way of Tesla accounting leader Vaibhav Taneja, who now holds each the manager monetary officer and accounting position, in step with Tesla’s shareholder disclosure.
Redwood has lured best ability clear of Tesla for years. Any other govt at Redwood, running leader Kevin Kassekert, up to now served as vp of other folks and puts at Tesla. Greater than 120 other folks these days paintings at Straubel’s corporate after up to now running for Tesla, in step with LinkedIn information.
Straubel, who’s credited as a co-founder of Tesla, used to be elected by way of the automaker’s shareholders previous this 12 months to function an impartial director at the board.
Tesla didn’t in an instant reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
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